“I remember your first famous work, The Postman in the Mountain. I went to see your film in Venice, but you were not there at the time.”

Luc Besson was surprised that Lee Yi-su still remembered her original documentary.

To be honest, at the Venice International Film Festival that year, although his movie became the opening film, it was Lee Ye-seok who really became a hit.

He won the Golden Lion Award at the age of 21, becoming the youngest winner of the Venice Golden Lion Award in history, which was a huge sensation at the time.

“That’s a shame, I loved that documentary you made.”

Li Yishu was not deliberately being polite when they first met; he really liked the documentary.

From the perspective of animal actors, coupled with a magnetic voice-over and wonderful ethereal music, the audience can immerse themselves in the beautiful underwater world. Not only a large number of underwater animals are filmed, but also scenes of animals’ courtship, group fighting, and chasing.

It is a bit similar to the later “Animal World”, but the difference is that the land animals are not surprising even if people have never seen them before.

But the wonderful creatures on the seabed are not only eye-opening, but also because the sunlight shines on the bottom of the water, the colors are rendered like laser lights, which directly makes the underwater world beautiful.

This is also an important reason why the oceanarium became more popular than the zoo. The azure blue water and the various marine animals sliding in the pool like dancing are indeed very attractive.

If the two can be considered to have known each other for a long time because they have both seen the movies directed by each other, then Milla Jovovich, the heroine of “The Fifth Element”, seems “strange” to Lee Yi-su.

Being unfamiliar does not mean not knowing her. She is the famous “Resident Evil Girl”. Even if you have not seen the “Resident Evil” movie, you still know her more or less.

She is not a very famous Hollywood actress, but she is still a familiar face to the public.

Thomas, one of the producers, saw Li Yishu looking at Milla Jovovich and took the initiative to introduce her: “Li, this is Milla Jovovich, the heroine of our “The Fifth Element”.”

Milla Jovovich extended her hand politely: “Hello Director Li, I really like your film “Goodbye, My Concubine”, a love story that is different from the secular world.”

Hearing the English translation of Farewell My Concubine, Li Yishu’s mouth twitched. He had thought about changing it at first, but Xu Su was the producer and she was the one who sold the copyright, so it was not easy for Li Yishu to get too involved.

Although she was not impressed by the translation and even felt that it was somewhat disparaging of the film, Lee Yi-su still politely shook hands with the “biochemical girl”.

If it were other Hollywood actresses of the same period, Lee Yi-su might be able to mention some of their early works, but there is no sign of any classic works of Resident Evil. Even her early famous work “The Fifth Element” has just formed a crew and is ready to start filming. Naturally, there is nothing to praise.

In terms of appearance, Milla Jovovich is not ugly, and her appearance in the “Resident Evil” series was also stunning. But perhaps she has not found her own makeup style yet, or it may be because she is a model and needs to strictly control her weight. Now she looks skinny, and her facial lines are too hard, which makes her look a bit mediocre.

Knowing that the other party’s movie is okay and the appearance is satisfactory, but he has neither of these two things, Li Yishu really doesn’t know how to praise him, so she can only politely thank him for liking her work, and then quickly change the subject, inviting everyone to sit down and chat.

Perhaps because they had just met and were not familiar with each other, Luc Besson was afraid that his proposal would be rejected, so he started talking about their common profession, movies.

Luc Besson has directed many famous films, including “Léon”, “The Fifth Element”, “Lucy”, etc., and his film style is quite varied, from the early art films shot in France to the later gun battle films and even science fiction films. His style is diverse, and the baseline is there, neither bad nor particularly good.

But at that time, Luc Besson was not as good at changing film styles as he was later, so when talking with Li Yishu, he also deliberately asked for some advice on shooting action movies.

Hollywood action movies of this era are basically very rigid and the action scenes are very old-fashioned, with two actors punching each other, a bit similar to Hong Kong’s early Shaw Brothers martial arts films, which are quite formulaic.

In contrast, Hong Kong kung fu films have had more and more gimmicks in recent years. “Rumble in the Bronx” achieved very good box office results in North America because of Lee Yi-su.

Luc Besson has also seen this movie and was very interested in the action in it. What he is good at now is still mainly plot, and the gun battle scenes are average. The “Fifth Element” he directed this time is said to be a science fiction film, but in fact it is also mainly plot.

Li Yishu was generous with this and gave the other party some pointers.

One of them was deliberately trying to make friends because he had something to ask for, while the other knew the truth but was just pretending. Both of them had a very good chat.

They talked about action movies, science fiction movies, and then the theme that made them both famous – art films.

Since we are talking about art films, we have to mention this year’s Cannes Film Festival in France. Lee Yi-su did not attend the Cannes Film Festival this year, but the company sent people there, mainly to buy films.

At this year’s Cannes, British director Mike Leigh won a great victory. His film “Secrets and Lies” not only won the Palme d’Or, but the actress also won the Best Actress award for her superb acting skills. At the same time, the director also won the Catholic Humanitarian Award.

For Cannes, which is accustomed to dividing the cake, this is a great honor for a film to win three awards in a row. In addition to an additional Humanitarian Award, the Palme d’Or and Best Actress are both major awards.

Li Yishu was not familiar with the British director with the same surname, but she was very familiar with Luc Besson, who talked a lot. Although Li Yishu could not get a word in, she kept smiling.

After about ten minutes, seeing that the two sides were communicating very well, at Thomas’s suggestion, Luc Besson stated the purpose of this trip, which was to adjust Tucker’s schedule.

Li Yishu pretended to hesitate for a while, but finally nodded and agreed to give Luc Besson face. However, the specific schedule adjustment would require both parties to send people to negotiate, and he would definitely focus on his own film.

Luc Besson also understood this logic and naturally agreed readily. After all, Chris Tucker was just a supporting role with a small part in his movie. As long as Li Yishu could arrange and adjust the schedule, it would be in time no matter when to start filming.

Seeing that Li Yishu agreed, Luc Besson did not stay long. After chatting for a while, he got up and said goodbye.

As for the subsequent schedule adjustment, there are staff to coordinate the negotiation. Before leaving, Luc Besson extended his hand in gratitude: “Li, thank you very much for your help. The investment cost of The Fifth Element is too high, and I can’t afford any mistakes.”

“We are all directors, I can understand.”

Li Yishu smiled and shook hands with the other party.

Thomas let Luc Besson take the heroine away first, while he stayed to thank Li Yishu again before rushing back to the crew.

This time when “The Fifth Element” adjusted its shooting schedule, the busiest person was not the director, but him, the second producer. Not only did he have to adjust the actors’ schedules, but he also had to prepare the crew. He was extremely busy.

After seeing Thomas off, Li Yishu saw that it was getting late, so she rushed to the crew to continue filming, called her assistant Cate Blanchett, and said, “Cate, go tell Roger to go and negotiate with the crew of The Fifth Element about Tucker’s schedule.”

“Good director.”

Cate Blanchett nodded in agreement and turned to find the second producer Roger.

After she left, Li Yishu asked the crew to continue filming.

During the filming, Roger rushed over and when he saw that the crew had already started filming, he stayed outside until Cheng Long finished filming a scene. Then he talked to Li Yishu about the schedule. “How to discuss the schedule? Of course, we have to prioritize the filming of our movie.”

Li Yishu glanced at him and said calmly, “Tucker’s solo scenes have basically been filmed, and his scenes with Cheng Long will be done in less than two weeks. You can go to the set of The Fifth Element and discuss it according to our schedule.”

“Half a month?” Roger hesitated, “I’m afraid they won’t agree.”

Although Tucker is only a supporting role in “The Fifth Element”, his role is not small. If the crew is asked to wait for him for half a month, I’m afraid they will not agree.

“If they don’t agree, forget it.” Li Yishu curled her lips and said, “I’m already giving them face by agreeing to adjust the schedule.”

To be honest, if Thomas hadn’t come to him, Li Yishu would never have adjusted Tucker’s schedule. He would rather continue filming in a procrastinating manner and teach the other party a lesson.

“Okay, I’ll go tell them.”

Seeing what Li Yishu said, Roger naturally didn’t say anything more. He was the producer of “Rush Hour” and not the producer of “The Fifth Element”, so he had no right to care whether the other party was happy or not.

The next day, Roger went to talk to Thomas about the schedule and learned that it would take at least half a month. Thomas was definitely not happy about it.

But Thomas was helpless in the face of the powerful Roger. He wanted to call Li Yishu to talk about it, but the call was always busy. He then understood what was going on and had no choice but to agree.

Thomas had thought about replacing Tucker’s role, but the crew had already started filming. Not only would it be troublesome to change the role temporarily, but it would also be unreasonable for their crew.

The filming time passed very quickly for the crew.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of May.

Qingxia came to Los Angeles with her eldest son. Li Yishu really didn’t have time to pick them up at the airport, so she called Amy and asked her to go there in person to pick them up.

After Qingxia came, Li Yishu no longer lived near the Columbia Studios. After work in the evening, she took a bus back to Beverly Hills to accompany the mother and son.

In the restaurant, Li Yishu looked at the large table of dishes and smiled at Huang Ma who was serving the dishes, “Huang Ma, you came just in time. It’s hard to get a good meal here.”

Hearing this, Huang Ma was so happy that she couldn’t stop smiling: “Whatever you want to eat, I’ll buy it tomorrow.”

After living in Beverly Hills for more than half a year, Huang’s mother has become familiar with the supermarkets around it. Even though she doesn’t understand English, the prices in the supermarkets are clearly marked. After going there a few times, she will become familiar with the operating procedures and will not be afraid because she doesn’t understand English.

“Then there are a lot of things I want to eat.” Li Yishu smiled and listed a few dishes she wanted to eat, including spicy Sichuan cuisine.

He hasn’t eaten Chinese food in the more than half a month since he came to the United States. Although the restaurant on the Columbia Studios tastes good, for a Sichuanese, food without chili is always unsatisfying.

“Okay sir, we are out of peppers at home. I will go to the market to buy some tomorrow.”

Huang Ma used to cook Cantonese cuisine, but after staying with Li Yishu for a long time, she got to know his taste, so she bought some recipes and tried some Sichuan cuisine. The taste was pretty good. After all, Sichuan cuisine is heavy in oil and spicy. As long as you pay attention to these two points, it basically won’t be too bad.

“Well, thank you, Huang Ma.”

When Huang Ma entered the kitchen, Li Yishu saw Qingxia coming down the stairs and asked with a smile, “How is it, is our son asleep?”

“Yeah, I’m asleep.” Qingxia smiled slightly: “I didn’t sleep well on the plane, and I just played crazy with you for a while, and now I’m tired and fell asleep.”

“It’s normal for boys to have some fun.”

Li Yishu smiled and invited Qingxia to come and sit down.

Li Bangguo is now at the age when he can walk and run and is hated by others. He still maintains the most primitive curiosity about everything. Perhaps it is because he has not lived in this house for a long time, so as soon as he came back, he ran around everywhere without resting for a moment.

Li Yishu played with him for more than half an hour and was extremely tired. In the end, he had no choice but to let his mother take him upstairs to coax him to sleep.

Having not seen each other for a long time, the two chatted while eating.

Qingxia mainly said that before coming to the United States, she used her connections in Taiwan to set up a charity organization named after her, the Qingxia Charity Foundation, and her plan was mainly to donate to Hope Primary Schools.

Since the Hope Project was launched in 1989, many wealthy people have done charity mainly by building Hope Primary Schools. Qingxia didn’t know much about this before, but after in-depth research, she learned about the Hope Project.

Li Yishu thought for a moment and said, “Building a Hope Primary School is good, but I think it’s better to focus on scholarships.”

“Scholarship?” Qingxia was slightly stunned.

“Yes, many places are short of schools now, but more of them are short of money. Those children who drop out of school are not out of school because they have no schools to go to, but because of family financial problems…”

Li Yishu once paid attention to education aid. There were many news reports about children in remote areas who walked more than ten miles to go to school every day, and spent several hours just commuting to and from school.

But in Li Yishu’s opinion, students can completely solve this problem by living in school. The reason why those poor students do not live in school is largely due to economic reasons.

In addition to providing funds for schooling, scholarships can also cover student accommodation and food expenses.

However, the specific situation still needs to be arranged according to the problems in different regions.

Qingxia thought about it, then nodded and said, “I’ll talk to the people from the foundation later.”

“There is no rush for this. Doing charity is not something that can be done overnight. It requires long-term persistence.”

Li Yishu had just finished speaking when the cell phone on the coffee table suddenly rang. She stood up and picked up the phone.

It was Amy who called. As soon as the call was connected, she said in shock: “Boss, there was news from Hong Kong just now. Something big has happened!”

“Xiangjiang? What happened there?”

“Li Jiacheng’s son has been kidnapped!” (End of this chapter)